Scrapbooking

When the whole scrapbooking "craze" began (or took off as an economic force) I could really see the appeal. As someone who is both nostalgic and sentimental, I loved the idea of recording everything so that I could somehow relive it later.

But even as a young twentysomething, I was aware of this: I would never have time to both live life and record the living of it.

That is more true than ever.

I leave you to make the life application (insofar as life applications apply to my blog).

We have had a lot of fun this summer. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE summer. Back in June, Pixie and Bud went to Sports Skills camp. They went and had fun from 9-1 while Wombles got to celebrate what it felt like to be an only child. I'm not sure who was the most excited by the week (me included)!

Here are Pixie and Bud all ready to go on their first morning:


Bud was the King of the slip-n-slide. Check it out:

Next week, the two of them are off for another fabulous week of camp--this time, soccer. The camps are hosted by J's college (oh, thank you for faculty discounts!!).




Soccer camp appears especially promising for Bud since the World Cup, during which he began putting on his cleats and shin guards to go run around the yard kicking the ball. I think he'll have a blast. So will Pixie, who has several friends signed up. We'll see how Wombles and I do on our own! :)

Cuatro!

We recently went to Chili's to celebrate the end of the homeschool year and Mayterm. The host greeted us at the door, and Bud replied, "We're getting a Baby for Christmas!"

Picture awkward host, laughing nervously, clearly thinking something like, "Does he mean a baby doll?... Or is the mother expecting? DON"T LOOK AT WAISTLINE! ...There are three of them already..."

It was hilarious.

And Bud didn't mean baby doll, and there are already three of them, which is one of the reasons we're so, so excited. As I tell Pixie, Bud and Wombles, we're so fond and incredibly pleased with the three children we already have that we're thrilled another one is on the way.


We're calling "him" Cuatro (until the birth, that is). But we pronounce it, "Cuattro."

Please rejoice with us!

No Pets!

I know that having pets is at least theoretically good for kids. Probably not just theoretically, either.

I have not yet decided how I feel about them for parents, though.

Before we were parents, J and I had a fish. A Betta. Usta! lasted for over three years, in three different homes in two different time zones.

When he finally kicked the bucket on a cold South Bend night, it is a testament to J's love for me that he went out and dug a grave in the frozen ground, after dark. I just couldn't flush Usta!--he was part of the family.

Still, he was a hassle to deal with whenever we left town, as we did so often with family far away.

I can't imagine what we would do with dogs or a cat, given our tendency to gallivant. (BTW, "galavant" is also a correct spelling option).

We DID give Pixie two goldfish for her birthday. They lasted less than 24 hours in our hard water. The next pair lasted just over two weeks.

Pixie has since smashed the fish bowl, so we're done with that for a while.

Or...so I thought.

Enter Wombles!

Wombles has lots of great ideas...like bringing me a plastic goldfish and asking for a fishbowl.


He named his "fish" Katie. But then he changed the name to Goldie.


He'll swirl it around really fast and then say, "Look! She's SWIMMING!!"

What does it say about him or us that he sleeps with this thing? I can't decide if it's cute or very, very pathetic. Poor kid. His parents won't even give him a goldfish, so he carries around a plastic one in an old [plastic!] mayonnaise jar.

Hey--this one won't get flushed, though.

At least, I really hope not.

He Loves Me...He Really Loves Me.

Thank you to Shane's Deli in Wheaton for the inspiration...for my favorite of all their sandwiches.

OK, so I think I got it the first time we went and couldn't ever bear to order anything else. It's not like we went that often. Grad school, people! But Shane's was between us and the library, and for the first year we were there they had mint ice cream for shakes. Not peppermint...Mint. Or, was it peppermint after all? Maybe the mint is intruding on my consciousness from a farther-back day in Mahon. Either way, they were goo-ood.


Anyway, we went to Shane's on a realtor's recommendation when we were looking for housing before our move to Wheaton. We ended up living four blocks away. Although those were financially tight years, I think of our time in Wheaton with a passionate fondness. This sandwich is one of the flavors of that time.

Somehow, all of our days at Shane's happened to be sunny, not-too-hot wonderdays of refreshment and rest. I love that in a memory.

Plus, I've been craving prosciutto this week.

Thank you, J, for making my dreams come true! And not just the Caprese, either. ;)

Because She's Awesome, That's Why

J has the three amigos at the pool, and I am here with a braunschweiger sandwich and some Diet Hansen's Ginger Ale.

There is no date tonight. NO DATE! AAGGGHHHH!! It's 5:03, I'm supposed to be heading out the door!

Wait...We're going out tomorrow instead, to see Prairie Home Companion live at the Bowl. Yessss.

Now that you're all caught up, I'd like to share what came in the mail today.

A box. A large box. A box addressed toBud. He was astounded, thrilled, amazed. Then we told him that it might be a birthday present, and he might have to wait (maybe someone got the wrong month?). But no, it was really an unlooked-for gift just for Bud. Do you know what that can do for a four-year-old? Do you? Think about what it can do for a grown-up. And then multiply it by 1000. He doesn't even get junk mail.

My adorable sister Cupcake told me she had a recipe for worms for Bud. Well, it came today...along with all of the ingredients.


Can we all pause for a moment and say how incredibly cool that is?

This is the note she sent, with the recipe (Bud's name blocked out):

Ingredients:
Dirt (cake)
Mud (frosting)
Soil (Oreos)
Worms (worms)

I think this was my favorite part, considering Cupcake's phobia of lizards:



Thanks, Cupcake, for absolutely making Bud's Day.


And we haven't even made the recipe, yet!

Google Search

I think my recent posts may have revealed that I've spent perhaps a bit too much time reading up on Black Widows. Rattlesnake antivenin, anyone? I did not grow up with them--or was blissfully ignorant--and so when we moved out here I was incredibly paranoid.

And it's amazing to live in a world where we can get almost-instant gratification for information, isn't it? Granted, not any kind of information...not some of the important things: Does he love her? I wonder how I could help X. Why is Pixie sad today? How can I help Bud understand why Jesus let the S.'s house burn? Why do I KEEP doing that?

Still, there's a lot of info out there. And sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

For example, when you see this:



You know several things already, such as:

(1) Someone has been scribbling on the carpet.
(2) A lot.
(3) And not with washable crayon.
(4) That's neon crayon, with lots of dye.

Today, as I sit at my computer, I am thinking nostalgically of "Google" searches I've done...in the last week or so.

How to get crayon out of carpet
How to get crayon off the wall
The Getty Museum
Where do Black Widow Spiders like to live?
How to get crayon out of carpet (yes, again; why bother to remember it when I can just Google it again?!?)
How to get ink out of upholstery


Welcome to my weird, furniture-ruining little world. What have you Googled lately?

Happier Times Outside

Since the BW invasion last week, J got two more of them Saturday night. In a world where evil is often dressed up to try to look attractive and darkness parades itself as Light, I do appreciate that Black Widow Spiders make no such attempt. They are clearly on the dark side...unapologetically jet black, with the most sinister and instantly recognizable limbs I've ever seen in an arachnid. You don't have to see the little red hourglass--really. Just one of those legs poking out is plenty for you to know what you're dealing with.

Thank you, Lord, for making this unhealthy thing so...revolting. Please, so attune my tastes and open my eyes to see all such dangerous things for what they really are...especially those that can "... destroy both soul and body..." (Matt. 10:28).

On to happier times!

Saturday J was spreading the load of mulch we'd had delivered, and called me to see this beautiful sight:


No, not the artichoke...although I'm excited about those.

See the little guys? We didn't even buy them and bring them in...they just showed up where the aphids are! An army of them!

I LOVE watching ladybugs go after aphids. The precious, sweet little ladybug of fairy books and little-girl Halloween costumes looks quite different on the ground when it's doing its job. Ruthless exterminators. Grimly efficient pesticides. Show-no-mercy bugs!

I don't think ladybugs would make it onto 75% of greeting cards and baby books if the illustrators had ever gotten down and watched one of these things take out a line of aphids. Amazing! It's like watching a lion with a...with a duck or something, in miniature!

Anyway, those ladybugs make me really happy. They've been there for days.


Oh, and here's a shot of my back flower bed these days. Even though there's a ways to go yet, I'm really excited to have blooming flowers...and herbs down on the end! Whose yard IS this, anyway??